Judge Rules Social Media Platform X Subject To State Anti-Discrimination Law

An Australian judge has ruled that the social media platform X is subject to a state’s anti-discrimination law even though it does not have an office in Australia, Rod McGuirk reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Judge Ann Fitzgerald said in a decision that her court has jurisdiction over X Corp. in a hate speech complaint. I Photo: X formerly Twitter

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Judge Ann Fitzgerald said in a decision that her court has jurisdiction over X Corp. in a hate speech complaint.

The ruling allows the Queensland Human Rights Commission to hear an allegation that X breached Queensland anti-discrimination law by failing to remove or hide anti-Muslim hate speech.

The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN), which brought the case against Twitter in June 2022 before billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk bought and rebranded the platform last year, welcomed the decision as “precedent-setting.”

Fitzgerald’s decision “paved the way for social media companies to be held accountable for locally accessible content that may breach Australian hate speech laws,” the network said.